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It’s like being on hot coals. As if I can’t wait to turn the key and close it. At Dianabad in Leopoldstadt, the bathing season is over. Permanently closed at the end of the month. As soon as possible.
The new construction of the private indoor swimming pool between Salztor and Marienbrücke was officially inaugurated on October 4, 2000. Present were Mayor Michael Häupl, the Governor of Lower Austria, Erwin Pröll, and Raiffeisen’s General Counsel, Christian Konrad. The city of Vienna financed the construction with 200 million shillings, about 14.5 million euros. The condition: the bathroom must be open to Viennese for at least 20 years. Almost exactly 20 years after the day, it now closes. Agreement fulfilled.
But why the rush? What do the owners, Raiffeisen-Holding Niederösterreich-Wien and Uniqa, plan to do with the house? Luxury apartments? Joint workspace? Mall? Spa? “Nothing at the moment,” the Wiener Zeitung said briefly. “It is not yet clear what will happen to the property,” says Raiffeisen press officer Michaela Haber. The only difference is that it will no longer be a bathroom. “We have decided to close.” She does not want to name the reasons for this.
Of course it is about the money. From a business perspective, it makes sense to close the bathroom. Although the entrance prices to the Diana bath are many times higher than those of the municipal baths, the indoor pools hardly make a profit. However, from a social point of view, the bathroom will be missing. Raiffeisen knows this too: in 2016, the city of Vienna discussed the continuation of operations. The city showed no interest. The office of the City Council for Education, Integration and Youth, Jürgen Czernohorszky (SPÖ), confirms that the purchase or rental of the bathroom was never seriously considered. “The Dianabad doesn’t fit into our bathroom concept,” they say. Due to the size of the pool, school swimming courses are not possible here. Renovation and maintenance would also be too expensive. The city has to finance a total of 20 million euros a year for its indoor pools, excluding the city council.
Pool Strategy 2030
But the gap left by the Diana bathtub closure is large. The indoor swimming pool infrastructure in Vienna has not grown with the population in recent decades. On the contrary, he shrugged. The city of Vienna currently operates five indoor pools and seven pools combined with outdoor and indoor areas for 1.9 million citizens. The so-called “Common Strategy 2030” aims to tackle the deficit. The city of Vienna presented them in spring. Existing pools such as Höpflerbad in Liesing, Laaerbergbad in Favoriten, Simmeringer Bad and Großfeldsiedlungsbad in Floridsdorf are getting new indoor pools. The Donaustadt, the fastest growing district, even has a brand new indoor pool. A suitable location is already being searched. The goal is to complete most of the projects by 2030. The city wants to invest 100 million euros.
The Dianabad doesn’t get a piece of the cake. In the near future, it will be tight in the basins of the city on cold days, especially for children. Because Dianabad is especially attractive to families. And the supply is scarce. Only the considerably more expensive Therme Wien is equally suitable for young children. There is no comparable indoor pool for children in the center of town. “Master Blaster” – a 125 meter long tire slide -, pirate ship, wave pool, shallow pool and drivable. Ideal conditions for the first attempts to paddle and swim.
Thousands of babies have already ingested chlorinated water here. Thousands of children made their first tempos here. The company “Seepferdchen” has been offering swimming courses for children between six weeks and five years old for 14 years. “We teach about 500 children a week in Dianabad,” says managing director Dorit Arndt. “We make a significant contribution to helping the Viennese learn to swim.” That is over now. Seahorses do not have alternate pools. Arndt had to lay off nine employees at the end of October. “It’s a shame about the bathroom. It’s a shame for us. It’s a shame for the children.”
A piece of cultural history
It’s a shame for a piece of Viennese cultural history. After all, Dianabad is 210 years old. It was inaugurated in 1810, a stone’s throw from the current location, in Obere Donaustraße. Following the French model, the Viennese wallowed in zinc tubs filled with hot water from the Danube canal, naturally separated by gender. 30 years later it was monumentally expanded. Europe’s first indoor swimming pool encompassed a pool 36 meters long and 13 meters wide. Even by today’s standards, this is remarkable. The building was also a cultural experiment. Because bourgeois society, to which the bathroom was reserved, met for the first time in bathing suits and pants. Political debates at the pool wheel instead of the cafeteria and lounge.
But despite a wealthy audience, a business was hardly profitable in winter. To save heating costs, the hall was converted into a concert and dance hall in late autumn. Exuberant parties were held at the “Dianasaal”. Carl Ziehrer and Johann Strauss Sohn attracted the Viennese in droves. The waltz “On the beautiful blue Danube” premiered in an indoor pool of all venues. Dual use as a swimming pool, concert hall and ballroom was a Viennese specialty in the 19th century. Due to the lack of concert halls, Sophienbad was also used as a concert hall in addition to Dianabad.
Set up four times
In the early 1910s, the festivals ended. The Dianabad reopened in the middle of the First World War. And that twice, for men and women. In contrast to the emerging cheap urban toilets of Red Vienna, the Dianabad did not pursue any hygienic or health-related motives. The bathroom remained faithful to the bourgeoisie, it had a hotel and a restaurant. It was badly damaged by a bombing raid in World War II and was demolished in 1967.
In 1974 it was built for the third time. This time at the current location in Lilienbrunngasse. The city bought the property and built an indoor pool with several pools and saunas, a hair salon, and a cosmetic studio. After a fire in the 1990s, this bathroom also had to close. As a privately run water park operated by Raiffeisen and Uniqa, it reopened in October 2000. With strong financial support from the city.
20 years later nobody wants it anymore. Neither the city of Vienna nor the Raiffeisen are fighting for the bathroom. On the other hand. It couldn’t lock fast enough.
